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Mirvish heading to OMB in bid to save Gehry condo project

City planners remain opposed to trio of towers after year of negotiations

The King St. West site of the Princess of Wales Theatre is where David Mirvish and architect Frank Gehry plan to build an arts and condo complex in Toronto.
REUTERS/Mike Cassese (MIKE CASSESE / REUTERS)

Toronto impresario David Mirvish is heading to the Ontario Municipal Board in January to try to save superstar architect Frank Gehry’s ambitious plans for three condo towers next to the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

Despite a virtual redrawing of the original plans, to create a softer look and incorporate design elements that speak to the King St. W. warehouse area’s history, opposition from city planners remains unrelenting, Mirvish said during an impassioned defence of the controversial project to Canada’s business elite at an Empire Club of Canada lunch Thursday.

Mirvish said asking the OMB to intervene appears to be the only way to save a project that could put Toronto on the architectural map and fulfil the ambitions of the world-renowned Gehry, 84, to build his first from-the-ground-up landmark in the city where he was born and raised.

There is a “made-in-Toronto solution” to the impasse, noted Mirvish.

“Fit in with what exists. Don’t put your head up too high, don’t stick out.” But that is unacceptable for a project — and its famed creator — that “doesn’t fit into the normal box,” Mirvish told the crowd.

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Negotiations between city planning staff and the Mirvish-Gehry team have been “respectful,” said Gregg Lintern, director of community planning for Toronto and East York District.

City planning staff are working on a revised report on the project which will go to committee in November and then on to council.

A preliminary report last year termed the massive project, which will include a six- or seven-storey podium with stores and other publicly accessible spaces supporting some 2,700 condo units, a “game changer” for an area that’s already undergone significant redevelopment.

“It begs the question, how much can the area sustain and what is the appropriate scale for development,” said Lintern.

There are also concerns that Gehry’s plan would involve the demolition of four designated heritage buildings, warehouses which have dominated the area since the 1800s.

Mirvish argues that the warehouses actually impede pedestrian traffic in the now vibrant entertainment and residential district and that pulling the development back from the corners and widening the sidewalks would help turn John St. into a “cultural corridor.”

The 86-, 84- and 82-storey trio of towers are planned for a block and a half site on the north side of King St. W. between John St. and the Royal Alex, an will include demolition of the Princess of Wales Theatre.

The proposed new towers are almost unrecognizable from the stark skyscrapers first unveiled by Mirvish and Gehry last October.

And they are likely to evolve still. Gehry warned there would be some 75 different models of the towers by the time he was done, and “we’re somewhere around model 45,” said Mirvish.

Mirvish said he’s “bemused” by how far apart the two sides remain after a year of negotiations and considerable changes Gehry has made to the original designs to appease city concerns.

He likens the redesigned towers to “three vases” and considered pulling out at one point, but Gehry said, “No, I’m into this.”

“I’m bemused because I thought I would be welcomed with open arms and there wasn’t a more appropriate place . . . than this block on King St.”

Toronto, like most major Canadian cities, has had a downtown dominated for years by skyscraping bank towers, Mirvish told the business crowd.

“Maybe where we live is as important. And maybe where we live should rise to the same height and have the same presence.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to say to the world that . . . how we live and where we play and what we do is as important as how we make our livings?”

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